to draw up their laws; Solon had done this for Athens, and Protagoras for Thurii. Colonies, in
those days, were completely free from control by their parent cities, and it would have been quite
feasible for a band of Platonists to establish the Republic on the shores of Spain or Gaul.
Unfortunately chance led Plato to Syracuse, a great commercial city engaged in desperate wars
with Carthage; in such an atmosphere, no philosopher could have achieved much. In the next
generation, the rise of Macedonia had made all small States antiquated, and had brought about the
futility of all political experiments in miniature.
CHAPTER XV The Theory of IdeasTHE middle of the Republic, from the later part of Book V to the end of Book VII, is occupied
mainly with questions of pure philosophy, as opposed to politics. These questions are introduced
by a somewhat abrupt statement:
Until philosophers are kings, or the kings and princes of this world have the spirit and power of
philosophy, and political greatness and wisdom meet in one, and those commoner natures who
pursue either to the exclusion of the other are compelled to stand aside, cities will never have rest
from these evils--no, nor the human race, as I believe--and then only will this our State have a
possibility of life and behold the light of day.
If this is true, we must decide what constitutes a philosopher, and what we mean by "philosophy."
The consequent discussion is the most famous part of the Republic, and has perhaps been the most
in. fluential. It has, in parts, extraordinary literary beauty; the reader may disagree (as I do) with
what is said, but cannot help being moved by it.
Plato's philosophy rests on the distinction between reality and appearance, which was first set
forth by Parmenides; throughout the